Cody Deneault Has An Excuse For Why His Gun Went Off In A Movie Theater The Other Day: It Was An Accident. Whoops!

Posted by Brandon Curtis, October 21, 2015

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Cody Deneault is the man who had a negligent discharge in a Kansas movie theater just a few days ago, and now he has given his side of the story and an excuse for what happened.

“I just had an accident. Accidents happen to everybody, even professionals.”

I have to disagree. Completely. I looked up Cody on Facebook and while he isn’t a fan of Concealed Nation, he is a fan of other concealed carry and firearms pages. Why was I looking? Because we post numerous articles about safe firearm handling.. and it’s people like Cody who need to read them the most.

Cody tells interviewers that he’s former military and that his experience with firearms has nothing to do with what happened, because “accidents happen”.

“I think I either bumped the trigger or pushed it the wrong way or something and it went off,” Cody said.

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The reason that the gun went off, says Cody, is because he was trying to reposition the gun in his pants pocket.

“I’d say my biggest mistake here was probably I didn’t have a holster,” he said. “And that is on me, for sure.”

I have all the evidence I need to make a solid conclusion: Cody, this was negligence. It was not an accident. Negligence is carrying a firearm in your pocket with no trigger protection. Negligence is blindly adjusting your unsecured firearm in a dark movie theater with many people around.

You’re lucky you didn’t shoot someone else besides yourself, Cody.

And if anyone asks my opinion of whether or not you should be allowed to carry a firearm, I say you aren’t ready… regardless of how much training you have under your belt. Your negligence put lives in danger, and that’s not something to be brushed off as an accident.

Brandon is the founder of Concealed Nation and is an avid firearm enthusiast, with a particular interest in responsible concealed carry. His EDC is a Glock 27 that holds Hornady…

Brandon is the founder of Concealed Nation and is an avid firearm enthusiast, with a particular interest in responsible concealed carry. His EDC is a Glock 27 that holds Hornady 165 gr FTX Critical Defense rounds, and rides comfortably in an Alien Gear Cloak Tuck 3.0 holster.

This man is a perfect example of someone who shouldn’t carry a firearm at THIS STATE OF TRAINING. He thinks that he knows everything, relied and still relies on past indirect experience, and wasn’t familiar with his handgun or how to carry it. He also is still very dangerous because he refuses to take complete personal responsibility for a very stupid act of NEGLIGENCE.
NOW, he’s just figuring out, as it’s most likely a safety-in-the-trigger striker-fired gun with a short-stroke, light-pressure trigger and no manual ‘on-off switch,’ the gun requires special handling; He’s just NOW figuring out that such guns CANNOT be carried in a pants pocket or waistband or purse without a good holster that covers the trigger guard completely; NOW he knows that if a gun is easy to fire with an intentional trigger pull, that same gun is just as easy to fire with an inadvertent one or with another object–jacket drawstring, set of keys, portion of zipper, Chapstick, and the like.
Calling this an ‘accident’ is like saying that you ran over somebody ‘accidentally’ because you pushed the wrong pedal in your car: You MEANT to push a pedal, the act was thus intentional although very stupid, and the result lies squarely upon YOU. It’s no ‘accident.’
An ‘accident’ would be where a firearm fired without a pull of the trigger; If the trigger IS pulled, and if the gun DOES fire, it’s no ‘accident. That’s what is supposed to happen, isn’t it?

Dan Gregory

Exactly…

William Robinson

So if the gun had fired itself, THAT would have been an accident. I’ve never heard of that happening, though.

Dave

There was an issue with the Mossberg M500’s a while back. Something about improper spring tension which would allow the gun to go off if it was jarred fairly hard. Buddy of mine was coming back on a RHIB from doing a boarding on another vessel when the RHIB hit a swell and jammed down into the cut pretty hard. The M500’s muzzle hit the deck pretty hard when they landed and went off – no finger on the trigger. One of the guys on board got a pellet in the butt and there was a pretty good gash in the deckplate but other than that no damage. He was cleared of course and Mossberg sent us new spring kits for all our M500’s. That aside – in this case the dude was negligent. There is a reason my CCW has an external safety. If you’re carrying a weapon as John Shore described it should NOT be carried in condition 1 and not be carried floating loose in a pocket. C’mon man, that is just stupid.

Sandydog

Unfortunately, what we have been taught and trained to believe all these years isn’t exactly true: Firearms CAN ‘fire themselves’ without a trigger being pulled. Of course, that takes some kind of input from a human, but there ARE firearms that are capable of firing without the trigger being touched at all. A gun left completely alone is not going to fire by itself, of course, but some guns will fire without that human press on the trigger.
Millions of firearms out there are not ‘drop safe;’ Many a ‘long gun,’ from bolt-action rifle through shotgun through AR, the guns that don’t have positive safety devices to lock or block the firing pin from moving unless released by taking off the safety AND by pressing the trigger, is capable of firing when dropped even a short distance if there’s a round in the chamber. It’s not common on long guns that have a lightweight firing pin and/or a good strong pin return spring, but it can happen.

Pre-1980 Colt 1911s are known to fire with regularity when dropped ‘just right;’ Many older handguns, auto and revolver, do the same.

There are, scarily, some 7.83 million rifles built by Remington since 1948 that are ‘alleged’ to fire when the safety is put in the ‘off’ position, when the bolt is being opened, or when the bolt is being closed, and have ‘allegedly’ killed and maimed as a result for decades–all without a touch on the trigger.
See for yourself–go to Remington’s webpage, check the ‘news’ column, and read how Remington, to settle a lawsuit, proposes to change the triggers in several million rifles–although they deny that those triggers are faulty. It’s a good read. . . particularly if you own a Remington rifle built between 1948 and, say mid-2006.

Dr Duke

I can never understand why anyone points a loaded rifle at themselves or anyone else while fiddling with the safety or closing the bolt. I was shooting my SKS one time and pulled the trigger and nothing happened. I noticed the bolt was not quite closed. I pushed it shut BANG! Fortunately I had the muzzle pointed in a safe direction so no harm was done. This guy Vet or not is a meathead. A pocket is not a holster.

Go Faster

Umm, Taurus recall? Drop it and it fires. Accident not negligence. Well I guess Taurus was negligent in not fixing it sooner. I know one lady died because of it.

Chaz Walker

“The beginner is great, because they know nothing. The amateur is lethal because he believes he or she knows more than they do. The experienced is wise in knowing there are still many things to learn, and no one is always right”

T. A.

Not all people in the military are proficient with firearms. I hate hearing people use that as the reason they are firearms worthy. You actually need specific training or experience before you should be carrying in public. This guy is a perfect example and this situation could have been a lot more dangerous for a stranger.

Kenneth Chaffins

Specific training isn’t a substitute for common sense, which apparently the guy in this example has none of. It’s common sense to have a gun in a holster. Training has nothing to do with it in this instance

JC Hammer

In training they drill it into your head repeatedly that the weapon needs to be either unloaded or have the trigger properly covered with a holster that is designed for the weapon being carried concealed. They do this because “common sense” isn’t actually all that common.

Kenneth Chaffins

Which goes right back to do with..this guy has no common sense. Because it’s common sense to have the trigger covered with a holster, that’s the bang switch.

George Blake

Not an accident. It was negligence. Sorry dude. That’s just the truth of it.

Jesse Beaumont

His is an excuse, yours is a reason. He needs to take the responsibility.

Raptor Keeper

Absolute FOOL .

Jeremy Platson

agreed, no side arm for you until you do some training

Jack

Couldn’t agree more with this article. I hope Cody reads it.

Go Faster

I had a negligent discharge at the range because I didn’t remove my finger from the trigger as I was loading another magazine. The only thing in danger was my pride as I was alone and the nearest person was in a fortified bunker/restroom 300 yards behind me. I always keep the weapon pointed downrange I just wasn’t thinking. Only injury was my pride. I didn’t carry for almost 3 months after that happened.
My friends all say they wouldn’t have told anyone but I share the story to prove that no matter how experienced you are you’re still capable of doing something stupid. After reading this story I think i can rest my case.

Idiocy causes negligent mistakes not accidents.

Mason Murphy

Hey thanks for sharing. I knew a firearms instructor who negligently fired a 10mm into the floor board of his car during a demonstration he didn’t skip a beat he looked at the class and said and that’s why you keep your finger off the trigger until your ready to shoot. Great guy just made a mistake. Things happen luckily it wasn’t fatal move one and learn from it. I put a bullet through my living room floor was cleaning my gun checked the chamber didn’t remove the magazine. I was talking with my wife while I was going through the process and I allowed myself to be distracted luckily it was my floor and not a loved one. Ithe was 100% on me.

Daniel Harris

I’ve had one accidental discharge. I was at the range with an old Mosin. It was already pointed down range luckily when it happened. I pushed the bolt forward and *BANG*. I wasn’t completely ready so it wasn’t shouldered correctly. Hurt like a sonova. My friend took it to a gunsmith afterward and found the trigger catch was really worn. Took my heart a while to calm down after that one.

Chaz Walker

Mistakes happen, and complacency is the worst enemy to anyone experienced, and even the experienced know there are still many things yet to learn, no one “knows it all and is perfect”.

Justin Price

it’s actually great to see someone in this day holding themselves accountable, especially when you don’t have to. You also made sure you learned from your mistake by giving yourself a 3 month hiatus. You have my respect, more people need to take this attitude.

Go Faster

Thanks but I just feel no matter how much experience you have with firearms there will be a day and time that you make a mistake. I just hope that others read this and realize that they can make mistakes even if you’re as safe as possible. I never thought I’d make such a rookie mistake but I did and taking time to think about it helped. I practiced handling my gun unloaded and using snap caps until I felt comfortable and confident enough to carry again. Though I did keep it in my truck I just couldn’t leave it in my safe and act like I felt safe when out and about. You never know.

Mark W. Mullins

Gun Safety….. That’s NO ACCIDENT ! You should be further advised in the proper carry procedures before you ever touch another gun. And then on probation for another year.

Bill Harpster

Anyone with any bit of training would know this, and just because you say you “have” military trainingdoesn’t mean you have common sense.

Smokey

Yep. Just because you are a vet doesn’t mean you spent any time beyond the bare minimum around firearms. I was a Marine for 30 years. I think the most frightened I have ever been was when I was on the rifle range one year with a bunch of the junior Marines from the S-1/Admin shop. At the time their “T/O Weapon” was a typewriter. They handled a loaded weapon (M-16A2 service rifle) one week each year.

nunya biznatch

Cody, you are either LYING about your gun experience, stupid… or both. NO ONE that has spent any significant time around guns would be dumb enough to think that putting a gun in a pocket without a holster is a good idea.

{drops mic}

wayne hamilton

I have to agree with the writer of this article this guy does not need to carry at all.

Sandydog

Not yet, anyway. He’s PARTLY learned his lesson (if he’d drop the ‘accident’ thing), and has shared it with us, which is dag blag brave on his part. With more time and training, he’ll probably be safer than many of us.

K Paul Parmenter

He could have hit an innocent with that stray bullet. I will not carry until I am comfortable shooting my concealed carry gun at the range, know each part of the gun, comfortable with the safety, and have the correct holster for it.

Chaz Walker

You’re brilliant for this. Many people rush in not knowing the details. I personally love Glock. no external safety, but I’m aware of the internal functions. I also (from the recommendation of this website) always use an AlienGear Holster (which is pretty amazing and very comfortable *free advertising… wonder if this gets me a discount). I’m all for everyone carrying, but PLEASE ensure safety, functionality, practicality, and intelligence is used while carrying. You Mr. Parmenter should be a model for those first getting into the carrying world. Be comfortable first, practice creates good habits, not perfection in the world of weapons.

Vet

I like the AlienGear comment. I have several and consider them to be the best holsters for the price on the market.

Mickie Adams

Its good to know there are SO many perfect people here. A mistake is negligence, negligence can be a mistake. I am quite positive that EVERYONE on here has made a mistake that has not necessarily lead to a ND. I am quite positive the EVERYONE here has made a mistake that, had one more thing gone different, that moment that made your heart skip a beat, could have been as bad as this guy. Stuff happens…let’s all just be thankful he only hurt himself and not anyone else and that he learns from this. We have enough people hating on us (gun owners/CC folks) that we don’t need to be hating on ourselves and causing more “internal” issues….give it a rest…

Chandra

Mistakes, accidents, negligence with a deadly weapon.. they can have profound consequences. “Stuff happens?” Yeah – but the proper, educated response is to make adjustments that make a thoughtless mistake less likely. It’s called, “LEARNING FROM OUR MISTAKES.” Your last sentence is the most revealing of your pathetic argument. You would rather this conversation remain in “them and us” camps? That mentality will keep us bogged I the mud, unable to move forward. I tell you one thing, history has shown me me child has a better chance at getting shot in our movie theater by a “good guy” who makes a “mistake” than by a “bad guy” with intent. I tell you one thing, I loose a child to either one of these idiots – it won’t matter.

Neal Ostrander

@mickieadams:disqus. The reason there are so many people against gun owners and CC folks is because of idiots like this that have no clue of basic gun safety. This person has no right to be leaving his house with a gun if he is not going to practice the most basic principle of CC use a holster to protect the trigger from accidental contact. You want people to respect gun owners and CC then you have to change your way of thinking and when someone makes a choice to not be a responsible gun owner you have to stand up against their right to ever carry again. This individual has proven by his actions that he is not a safe qualified gun owner and should not be allowed to own or carry any longer.

Sandydog

Everyone makes mistakes–but it’s always best to learn from the other guy’s mistakes rather than to try it on your own. It’s not hate of any kind that makes us experienced ones seem ‘harsh’–it’s to forcefully drive home the lesson some other poor [email protected]@rd learned from HIS mistake, so that other new guys don’t take one for the team.

iread2

Three days on the range at boot doesn’t make you proficient at anything…

right_in_kentucky

Being in the military does not make you an expert. I was in the Army – 19E and 19K (Armor crewman). During training, we qualified with a .45, but never touched an M-16. So my military training gave me no real experience with that weapon. Furthermore – many occupations in the military require very little time handling weapons outside of a possible annual qualifying in a range setting. Safely carrying a firearm is not only important to prevent injury or death to yourself and others, but also to avoid giving gun opponents ‘ammo’ for their arguments.

James England

Not boo-hoo’ing your story but I think everybody that goes through any branch of service has to qualify with the main battle rifle (M16A2… Though I guess maybe the Army does M4 now?) in basic training. Basic pistol qualifications were generally on the Beretta P92 (M9). I’m not familiar with anyone outside of SOCOM-types qualifying on a .45 (M45A1, I think) since around the end of the Korean War. In either case, the basic pistol course does not cover anything to do with concealed carry. They do hammer in, at every step in the process, firearm safety. This sounds like the kid tried to take a chance on skimping on firearm safety and it bit him in the proverbial butt.

Richard Barnett

“You’re lucky you didn’t shoot someone else besides yourself, Cody.” Actually, I’m quite certain that in Kansas there would still be no charges if he HAD killed someone.

Jesse G

In his pocket? With the safety off? Lucky for him (unlucky for us) he didn’t shoot his balls off.

OldNYFirefighter

never ever carry a handgun in your pocket with a bullet in the chamber. It is asking to get shot because the trigger is not protected from accidental activation. Carrying on an empty chamber will prevent it from happening, but makes the handgun temporarily disabled in an emergency situation. It does make a good short handled club though. Always carry a handgun in an approved holster & a round can be left in the chamber safely. They do make pocket holsters that protect the trigger, but they make drawing your handgun more difficult than a standard holster. This was totally his fault for improper carrying of his handgun.

Jarod Thoman

It was an accident, even professionals make mistakes. He isn’t some crazy as guy trying to kill someone. If he would have saved someone it would have been a different story, hmmmm wouldn’t of matter how he carried his weapon

steve

I’m pretty sure a guy that shoots himself in the leg isn’t going to be saving the day when crazed gunman enters the theatre.

Silvershine

“It was an accident, even professionals make mistakes.”

Professionals don’t try and pass it off as just a mistake.

JC Hammer

And if someone else had been hit then his ass would probably be in jail right now. He’s 100% lucky it didn’t happen. It’s not called an “accidental discharge” it’s called a “negligent discharge” because it requires negligence and poor judgement to allow something like this to happen in the first place. The fact he insists it’s an accident instead of admitting that he made a serious error in judgement shows that he’s too immature to be playing big kid with a concealed pistol.

Dianna Hayden

i dont think your first mistake was not having a holster. i think it was having a chambered weapon without trigger protection. jostling that weapon around in your pocket obviously can take the weapon off of safety. i am a woman and i know that. thats safety 101 stuff. the safety mechanism is just that a mechanism. mechanisms fail and so do you as a responsible gun owner. lucky no one including yourself was severely injured or killed.

Sandydog

You sound like a woman who equals or betters most men in logic and reasoning; You’re right on every point. I would like to ask a question, though: Why are there ‘safeties’ on guns that can fail? If a ‘safety’ CAN fail, why call it a ‘safety’? I don’t want a ‘safety’ on a firearm that fails, or is expected to fail–I want one that is a SAFETY. Sure, I know that mechanisms fail–but aren’t those mechanisms defective? Shouldn’t it be impossible to buy a modern gun that is known to have a safety device that fails in some way? Would you buy one? I figure that a safety device is there to make d&mn’ sure that the only way to fire that gun is by pulling the trigger and MEANING it. How about you?

Smokey

Yeah, that whole not having a holster thing will bite you in the ass every time. Dumbass.

Chaz Walker

Or in this case, it bit him in the leg.

Donny Killsyou Golden

Whoever wrote this is a judgemental prick. Shut the fuck up. You’re an idiot with a webpage, and an opinion nobody cares about. Nice to admit your stalking tendancies. Have you ever had a car accident? Chances are you have. And chances are 50/50 that it was your fault. Which by your logic, means you can’t drive, and should have your car taken away. You could have killed somebody. This is how you sound. Idiot. I’m quite sure he knows who’s fault it was, and I’d say catching a bullet like that, is punishment enough. He doesn’t need your idiotic stalker rants.

Sandydog

I can understand your anger, but it’s misplaced; The fellow writing the article was just telling the truth, and telling it with all necessary force and harshness.: It’s NEGLIGENCE that gets people hurt and killed by guns, not ‘accidents.’ You have the car collision analogy right: There basically ARE no ‘accidents’–somebody made a mistake. Yes, you might have killed some one; It’s the same with a firearm–somebody makes a mistake, and maybe somebody dies. We LEARN from this, and teach from this–to try to stop other people from being shot or killed.
The point everyone is trying to make is that we have to train ourselves that there ARE no ‘accidents’ with firearms, generally speaking: Some human has to make a mistake, has to perform an act of negligence, to fire a gun and wound or kill someone with an unintended bullet.
If we continue to excuse negligence as an ‘accident,’ we give aid and comfort to our enemies, who gleefully parade such ‘accidents’ as being commonplace, and claim with joy that we are a bunch of fools always just seconds away from another ‘accident.’

Mike Rodriquez

John, you seem pretty reasonable in your comments.

Let me just remind you that your fellow Americans who think there is too much public gun violence are NOT your enemy.

Thanks.

Sandydog

Reasonable? I thought that I was a slavering gun-crazed child-murdering Ammosexual!
My fellow Americans who think that there is too much public gun violence, are correct: ANY public gun violence, any tragic death, is ‘too much.’ In this we can all agree, I believe.
I do have enemies among my fellow Americans, however, the ones who cannot see that honest citizens are not THEIR enemies, and choose to lump me and mine in with inner-city criminals and the depraved in some of the most vicious bigotry imaginable, with words to match.
I’d be pleased to have a ‘conversation’ with a Disarmist that didn’t begin with the conclusion of just how wrong I am, and how best to do away with me for my own good.

Silvershine

“Whoever wrote this is a judgemental prick. Shut the fuck up. You’re an idiot with a webpage, and an opinion nobody cares about.”

Donny Killsyou Golden is a judgemental prick. He needs to shut the fuck up. He’s an idiot with a Disqus comment login, and an opinion nobody cares about.

Fixed it for you Donny.

JC Hammer

There’s a reason that it’s called a negligent discharge and not an accidental discharge. The reason people are being harsh is that it is necessary to drill it home to people that insist they “know better” than what common sense gun safety rules and pretty much every professional instruct recommend as a best practice. Maybe tell your friend to pull his head out and instead of insisting that it was “on accident” that he was being careless/negligent/cheap whatever. We read about these NDs happening pretty much weekly so you’d think people would learn from them. Apparently his military experience (which I’m guessing his MOS did not involve regular firearms usage) accounts for zero here but he insisted on mentioning it as some kind of bona fide.

Silvershine

That excuse doesn’t fly as a concealed carrier nor would it have flown in the military. Negligent discharges in the military are not treated lightly.

Vet

Hooah! He didn’t learn dropping a condition 1 firearm in his pocket in the military. He would have been given at least an Article 15 for such stupidity!

C.M. Dawson

Buy some carry holsters before you kill someone or yourself. Negligent discharge, this one. No accident. I hope a Darwin award is not in your future, or killing someone due to your negligence.

Hope you heal well. What kind of idiot carries a pistol in his pocket with no holster to protect the trigger? You know the answer to that question already.

If other commenters or myself seem harsh, it is because this is serious business. You don’t have a water gun in your pants…but maybe you should?

You aren’t ready to conceal carry, without some serious training and safety classes. Take them while your leg heals. It’s gonna be painful for quite some time.

rob low 2165

I agree 100% he isnt ready!

John King

Bravo! Very well on point! I do not favor some of what I know you guys consider 2nd amendment rights, but I feel if cooler, sensible heads like yours ever meet with cooler, sensible heads on mine, we just might get somewhere. Here’s hoping…..

Caitlyn Butts

What about the fact that the theater he was in was in our mall? Our mall has a rule, that even requires a sign on all entering doors, saying absolutely no firearms. I think that is one of many of his biggest mistakes.

Sandydog

It’s nice to see that this thread isn’t dead, yet! Ms. Butts, let’s leave aside those signs on your mall for a moment. Yes, if there were signs, this man disobeyed them, and was a fool–but, just maybe, not so much.
What is it about a mall that makes it safe from attack, a carefree island in a sea of external violence? Is there something inherent in malls that makes the carrying of a firearm unsafe and unnecessary within them, something that completely ensures that no one will be attacked while shopping in one? I seem to recall a rather vicious mass murder in a mall in Nairobi, Kenya not long ago–was THAT mall different, somehow?
Putting up a sign forbidding all, including righteous citizens with licenses, from carrying a gun into a mall simply precludes those with no ill intent from having a gun, when those WITH ill intent, those who don’t obey signs or other laws and rules, bring their guns in.
That is the abject fallacy of ‘gun-free zones’ and signs: They don’t stop criminals from acting criminally, and prevent good people from stopping them.

tibercio

For once, a good guy with a gun took out a bad guy with a gun in a movie theater.

mafarmerga

An unholstered gun in a theater in which the private property owner posted “No Weapons”?
A gun with a round in the chamber in your pants pocket?
Maybe he is ex-military but he is certainly a current moron.
He should get his gun back when he can prove he is a member of a “well regulated militia”
Idiot.

Ha I was a total POG (MI). I can never claim that I have extensive firearms knowledge from the military aside from qualifying on an M4…

Brian G. Lowery

Hey may be a member of other carry groups but he obviously isn’t reading or participating in them because I thought everyone knew to use a holster. P.S. Some of the most careless people I’ve seen with firearms are “former military”. P.P.S. I don’t get all anal about semantics. The use of the word “accident” means he didn’t purposely shoot himself in the leg, not that he didn’t cause it. All accidents can be reduced to some sort of negligence.

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